“How to Train Your Dragon 2,” which saw DeBlois writing and directing on his own, debuted in 2014 to tremendous fanfare. Speaking with Collider at the time of the film’s release, Butler declared its predecessor “one of my favorite movies ever,” stating that he’d been “blown away with it” when he saw the finished product. “[…] And then, because I’m a worrier, I just worried, once we were making the second, about how it was possibly going to live up to that, but they constantly surprised us,” he admitted before adding:
“I think the second one is even better. It pushes the limits and stakes, in so many ways. The animation has come along so much, and they’ve made absolute beautiful use of that to make this visually exhilarating ride that you go on, and yet never shied away from bringing up darker issues and keeping it really exciting and emotional. I was just blown away. I’ve now seen it with two audiences, and it’s great to watch with an audience because they get so into it, with everybody crying or cheering. I’m very proud to be a part of it.”
While I’m inclined to argue the original “How to Train Your Dragon” remains the best in the series, the second and third film, 2019’s “The Hidden World” (also written and directed by DuBlois), are both great in their own right. “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” in particular, allowed the franchise to mature alongside its characters and young audience, enriching its mythology while adding new wrinkles to the first movie’s conflict between humans and dragons (in addition to providing more of the same terrific animation and airborne action sequences). Butler may specialize in garbage entertainment, but as with Stoick, the “Dragon” series shows there’s more to him than you might think.
